As you have been focusing all your efforts on chemistry, human anatomy and physiology and microbiology, your nutrition class may have sneaked up on you.
Instead of freaking out over it, let me tell you what you can expect from it and how hard it is actually going to be.
*Disclosure: This article on is nutrition class very hard may contain affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. For more info, please see my disclaimer.
Is Nutrition Class Hard?
You will probably find that the actual information is not nearly as difficult as what you learn in many of your other classes. This will be despite the class often having a lot of busy work assigned.
The majority of pre-nursing and pre-health students I have spoken to have said that nutrition class is actually one of the easiest A’s they have earned in college.
What Should You Know About Nutrition Class Before Beginning?
Although nutrition class is generally easy for the majority of nursing students, you should be wary of going into this class thoughtlessly.
Nutrition class still requires some time, thought and energy to pass, and it may have one or two time-consuming projects that will take your focus for a few days out of the semester.
Set your mind at ease with some of my tips for getting through nutrition class in one piece and for putting sufficient time and effort into it so that what you learn can benefit your future career.
What Do You Learn in Nutrition Class?
Although research has shown that having a solid foundation of nutritional knowledge is vital for nurses to provide the highest quality of care to their patients, many recently graduated nurses do not know some basic information that could help them treat patients with chronic conditions.
While most college nursing nutrition classes are meant to provide only a basic overview of the most important upper-level information about diet and wellness, you will find that you do learn much in this class.
Depending on the textbook you use and the teacher you have, some of the topics you will most likely study include the following:
- The body’s nutritional needs
- Basics of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates
- Basics of vitamins and minerals
- Nutritional supplements
- Obesity, anorexia, bulimia, and other weight-related diseases
- Rickets, scurvy, and other nutrition-related diseases
- Nutritional needs across the age spectrum
- Basic digestion
While a 100-level nutrition class will not go into much more detail than this, a 200-level or higher class may have more information about in-depth digestive processes.
For example the Kreb’s citric acid cycle, digestive enzymes, and even nutrition for children and pregnant women.
However, you will most likely find that this is not one of your hardest classes and that it will not be the one causing you the most stress this semester.
What Is the Hardest Part of Nutrition Class?
I took my nutrition class during a semester when I was incredibly busy with work and other hard-core classes, including anatomy and physiology, microbiology and pharmacology. Because of this, nutrition class was more of an afterthought for me.
However, this does not mean that there is nothing difficult about this class. Even if it is only a one or two-credit class that takes up very little of your time, it is not something you can forget about completely.
The hardest part of your nutrition class will most likely depend on your professor. Some professors, including mine, liked to keep things easy, keeping the requirements of the class neatly confined to the number of credit hours assigned by the college.
Studying for occasional quizzes and tests and one or two moderately easy graded assignments were simple enough for me to fit in around the hectic demands of my life.
On the other hand, I have certainly heard about other professors who seem to take a strange pleasure in making a one-credit class as difficult as possible.
Time-consuming assignments and too much information covered during class time can suck away plenty of your time even if the material is not that difficult.
Pro Tip
On that note I do want to add that like most classes you’re going to take in college an easy class can be made very difficult depending on the professor.
It might be worth it to you to ask other students who have already taken nutrition to see which professor they had and what they thought of the class.
How Much Time Will You Need to Dedicate to Nutrition Class?
As I mentioned, I found that I had to dedicate very little time to my nutrition class outside my class time.
My paper and hands-on assignment were easily accomplished with a little over half a day of dedicated work. Studying was simple with my study partner, giving me an easy A in this class.
Other than your actual class time, you will probably want to dedicate an hour each week to completing homework assignments, another half hour to studying for quizzes and tests and a full day to completing a single nutrition assignment.
How Can You Make Nutrition Class Easier?
Here are my top study tips for making even a surprisingly difficult nutrition class as easy as possible.
Of course, if you have a teacher who likes to keep this simple in the first place, these tips will make the class a breeze.
- Find a study buddy, and meet with him or her once each week (make sure you have a good study spot).
- Create flashcards for supplements, vitamins, minerals, and other lists.
- Schedule a time to study the day before each examination.
- Check out YouTube videos, such as the Nutrition for Nursing series.
- Be sure not to stress too much about this class.
- Hire a tutor (from a platform like this one) if you’re struggling in this class, or any class.
Will Nutrition Class Really Help You in Your Nursing Career?
Breezing through a nutrition class does not mean what you learn is not important.
In fact, you can take much of what you learn to improve the health of your future patients, especially those who struggle with chronic health problems. Some of the problems your newly found nutrition knowledge can help with include the following:
- Obesity
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Certain types of cancer
- Osteoporosis
- Malnutrition
Final Thoughts
While most nursing students find that nutrition class is a breeze, you will still want to put enough effort into it so your newfound knowledge can benefit your career.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a nutrition major hard?
Nutrition major is not as hard of a major as most. Some of the science classes are hard, but many of the upper division nutrition classes are easer because the concepts are applicable to everyday life.
What do you expect from a nutrition class?
In nutrition class you’re going to learn about food and the nutrients in them. You’ll learn about the part nutrients play in diet and health.
Should I take nutrition class online?
Nutrition would be a great class to take online because of the way the class is normally setup. Ultimately if you are a student that tends to struggle in online class you should probably take this class in person.
Why should you take a nutrition class?
Besides being mandatory for many pre-health majors nutrition class can help you learn how to live a healthier lifestyle and prepare you to take care of patients or clients in the future.
What is nutrition subject?
Nutrition is the study of the nutrients found in food. It’s also a study of how the human body uses them and the relationship that exists between diet and health.
Is nutritionist a doctor?
Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist (without any real formal training) but not everyone can call themselves a medical doctor. Medical doctors have to go to medical school and pass boards to be a medical doctor.
